quote:

Originally posted by oddball:
I'll be the outlier and say that Carter was a horrible ex-president, his smile and friendly exterior was the facade of a cold, mean person who stopped smiling after the cameras shut off, and treated people around him like shit, especially his Secret Service protection. He stuck his unwanted nose into foreign issues in the Reagan and Bush administrations, culminating in his disastrous "negotiation" with North Korea in 1994 by giving them two reactors and $5 billion in cash if they promised to stop developing nukes. And of course they violated the accord the very first day and a few years later detonated its first nuke, and have been a nuclear thorn in the side of the U.S. ever since.

Good riddance.

I agree with Oddball. I don't buy what Jimmy was selling.. he was a sanctimonious fellow who never should have been President. The media sold him to the public after Watergate.

My dad voted for Carter. Three years later the stranglehold of high interest rates devastated my dad’s architectural firm and he had to close it down. The speculative project he was building in ski country Colorado went bust because the economy was so bad that none of the units sold and my dad had to pay the other investors back their money. The ramifications of that are still felt in our family. Carter was a disaster. My dad hates him.

quote:

Originally posted by Redhookbklyn:
He was a good man and a terrible president.

Exactly my sentiments.

Going waaay back, he would have been the first President I could have voted for.
I don't remember voting back then, I could have (maybe even voted for him ).
Back then I had a lot on my mind and politics wasn't one of them.
You aren't very smart that way (politically) when you are that age.
I DO remember that by the time Regan was running in 1980, I was all-in for him and "R" ever since.

Anyway, time to rest Jimmy, never hated you- just the job you did especially the Iran thing.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I don’t think Johnson gets near enough recognition as both an asshole and a very bad President.

Many don't want to acknowledge him as the one who destroyed the black nuclear family.

The groundwork for which was laid by Roosevelt. FDR is the most damaging President by a mile. He invented modern government and made the welfare state possible. FDR could get things done, and was a good wartime leader, but the things he got done to "fix" the Depression were terrible.

Presidents we don't remember much have been terrible. Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Harding come to mind.

None of this is to say Carter was a good President, but there are some we don't remember any more who were worse.

Good man, bad President. That is fair.

Well ole Jimmy was who I voted for in the first presidential election I was able to vote in.

Parents were dems and naturally I was influenced by them and voted as my parents did.

I was a kid singing this. Set to the Oscar Meyer bologna jingle

Our President has a first name... it's J-I-M-M-Y
Our President has a second name... it's C-A-R-TER
Ohhh... we love to hate him every day
and if you ask me why I'll saaaaaay

'Cause Jimmy Carter has a way
of fucking up the U.S.A.

quote:

Bunny Goes Bugs: Rabbit Attacks President

As US president Jimmy Carter sat fishing on a Georgia pond in 1979, a 'killer rabbit' approached — and brought a media storm with it

https://www.abc.net.au/news/20...abbit-1979/103527688

quote:

None of this is to say Carter was a good President, but there are some we don't remember any more who were worse.

LBJ comes to mind.
A bad President, not naive like Carter, just a bad guy.
More like a guy with Biden's ethics but with a better memory. More skilled at the corruption part too.
He was so bad, he had to step aside because it was so clear, even to him, he would lose.

Carter was pretty terrible. Maybe the Grant and Harding administrations were more corrupt, but for shear individual failure in decision making, Carter can hold his own. LBJ was probably the most legislatively effective President in history with the exception of FDR.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:

quote:

None of this is to say Carter was a good President, but there are some we don't remember any more who were worse.

LBJ comes to mind.
A bad President, not naive like Carter, just a bad guy.
More like a guy with Biden's ethics but with a better memory. More skilled at the corruption part too.
He was so bad, he had to step aside because it was so clear, even to him, he would lose.

LBJ's ego and quest for power was unmatched, the only thing standing in his way, was the equally detestable Kennedy brothers whose own ego and desire for prominence matched Johnson's. Both sides tried to portray themselves as altruistic, Kennedy as a well-heeled, attractive prince and Johnson as a folksey, get'r done big-shot from Texas. I wasn't alive then but, it's still cringe when I hear older people swoon over their adulation of Kennedy or, admiration of Johnson.

It's amazing how many "Best President ever" and "He understood the mission" messages I'm seeing after his passing. I honestly didn't think anyone felt he was a great President given all of his blunders.

quote:

Originally posted by mbinky:
From what I read he served under Admiral Rickover in the nuclear navy, and Admiral Rickover didn't hire fools.

A smart guy, but yea, he was a shitty politician. RIP.

As an enlisted Nuke, we looked forward to his presidency but was disappointed. Biggest markers were allowing Iran to fall to the ayatollahs (we had Iranian platoons training at the same time in boot camp when I was in. We made friends with a couple of them, going out to town on liberty. I imagine they were all killed when they were recalled.

Then there was the failed Iranian hostage rescue attempt.

And it was incredulous to learn that he got into the useless weeds like the tennis court schedule.

But, yes, at least he died not having the worst presidency ever.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
Jimmy gave us Iran, Bill Clinton and gave away the Panama Canal. Among other disgraces.

And despite that I didn't begin to loath hearing his name until he broke the long standing precedent of former Presidents refraining from criticism of currently sitting Presidents. It was a Low Class maneuver that also flied in the face of his professed strong Christian belief. Freaking hypocrite.

I was a sophomore at UT when Carter signed the treaties that started the giveaway of the Panama Canal. Even then, as a somewhat liberal leaning dumbass kid, I thought that was an incredibly stupid, naïve move.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
My dad voted for Carter. Three years later the stranglehold of high interest rates devastated my dad’s architectural firm and he had to close it down. The speculative project he was building in ski country Colorado went bust because the economy was so bad that none of the units sold and my dad had to pay the other investors back their money. The ramifications of that are still felt in our family. Carter was a disaster. My dad hates him.

My father didn't vote for that piece of shit, but owning a lumber yard he came within inches of losing the family business. Anything construction related during his reign of terror was in serious jeopardy of not surviving. Home building starts in our area went to almost zero for about three years. I can see why your dad hates him. My dad never forgave him.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

Then there was the failed Iranian hostage rescue attempt.

That "Desert One" fiasco was a HORRIBLE example of bad military planning and execution. We were taught about it in Joint Planning classes (while I was in the USAF) as an example of how NOT to 'plan' a joint operation. I blame the military for that mess. I mean, it was pretty much a pipe dream from the beginning, and in a way, it may have been a blessing in disguise that it didn't proceed further than the botched desert fueling rendeszvous.

I mean, who sold the idea that we could insert a team, using Choppers, in downtown Tehran, rescue the hostages (under fire, presumably), bring them out (under fire, again) to a soccer field where the choppers are just sitting there idling, and THEN exfiltrate from the middle of the freaking country once the whole hornet's nest had been kicked over? We never would have made it out with a single hostage. It's likely we would have suffered 100% casualties among the infil/exfil teams, AND re-capture/death of every single hostage we may have managed to get out alive. I am grateful it did not go further, as it was a stupid idea, a stupid plan, with stupid execution.

The only good thing to come out of it was that this caused the military to pull its head out of its kiester and begin to develop truly effective joint operations (common doctrine, common plans, common training, common radio/comm systems/procedures). Desert One was a fiasco, but it made the military better, and as a result, many people lived through Operation Desert Storm in 1991 who otherwise would not have.

Sure, this is considered Carter's legacy, but I doubt he planned this mess all by himself. I think it more likely that military folks put the plan together, told the president "Yup, we can do it!," and jimmah OK'd it. jimmah was an idiot for green-lighting it, but can you blame him for taking the advice of the head military planners?

There is PLENTY of stuff for which we can legitimately criticize jimmah - this isn't one of them, IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

Then there was the failed Iranian hostage rescue attempt.

........ There is PLENTY of stuff for which we can legitimately criticize jimmah - this isn't one of them, IMO.

I have little doubt that Carter would have taken credit for the attempt if it had worked. So he can take the blame for it when it failed.
After all, he's supposed to be the Commander in Chief. The buck stops there.

I see that Johnny beat me to it. Those long gas lines were awful. I had to sit in them because I did not have five bucks to pay some kid to get gas for me.

Well... at least Amy wasn't a crackhead.